BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

iPhone 6 Vs Galaxy S5 Review: Apple Gatecrashes Samsung

This article is more than 9 years old.

iPhone vs Galaxy is arguably the smartphone sector’s biggest rivalry, but in 2014 it has been taken to a new level. Apple finally enlarged the iPhone to compete with the Galaxy range head on and it has been a technological bloodbath. My iPhone 6 Plus vs Galaxy Note 4 review proved incredibly close and now it is time to pitch the two companies’ biggest sellers head-to-head.

Design - Style vs Practicality

In recent years Apple and Samsung have been criticised for doing little to overhaul the design of their ranges while the likes of HTC , LG and Motorola have significantly upped their game. 2014 was the year Apple finally made major changes while Samsung didn’t. So this should be an easy win - right? Not so fast.

While looks are always subjective, based purely on visuals, the iPhone 6 certainly easily has the edge. I’m not a big fan of the large top and bottom bezels that still reside on the iPhone 6, but its beautifully chamfered edges and matt aluminium unibody back and edges really stand out compared to the glossy metal edges on the Galaxy S5 and its controversial faux leather plastic back.

  • iPhone 6 - 138.1 x 67 x 6.9 mm (5.44 x 2.64 x 0.27 in) and 129 g (4.55 oz)
  • Galaxy S5 - 142 x 72.5 x 8.1 mm (5.59 x 2.85 x 0.32 in) and 145 g (5.11 oz)

Read more - iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus Review: Which Is Best?

But look more closely and it isn’t quite the cakewalk it might appear. The protruding camera on the back of the iPhone 6 clearly isn’t loved at Apple HQ as it was Photoshopped off official press shots and here the equally protruding, but centrally aligned Galaxy S5 camera looks more balanced.

Furthermore the Galaxy S5 remains the far more practical handset. Being smaller, the iPhone 6 doesn’t suffer from its slippery finish and lack of palm-friendly ergonomics as much as the iPhone 6 Plus but - despite being larger and thicker - the Galaxy S5’s grippy texture and more accentuated curves actually make it nicer and easier to hold.

Then comes the Galaxy S5’s trump card: it is both water and dust resistant with IP67 certification. Most usefully this means the Galaxy S5 can be left in up to one metre of water for up to 30 minutes. An ugly plastic flap on the power port must be shut for this, but it remains a major feather in the cap for the S5. Not only is it great for protecting against water damage that would kill the iPhone 6, but it is remarkably liberating being able to answer a phone call or adjust your music in the shower!

Read more - iPhone 6 Plus vs Galaxy Note 4 Review

Ultimately most people picking up both phones in a shop are likely to favour the iPhone 6, but when it comes to living with both long term it is an extremely close call.

Display - Goliath Takes David

Apple took a risk in enlarging the iPhone 6. It has cultivated a huge and devoted following with 3.5-inch and 4-inch models so the sudden leap may feel alien to some. Furthermore Apple’s decision to fit only a relatively low resolution panel (750 x 1334 pixels) was seen as a disappointment on paper. Surely this would be no match for the larger, higher resolution panel on the Galaxy S5?

  • iPhone 6 - 4.7-inch, 1334 x 750 pixel (326 ppi) IPS panel
  • Galaxy S5 - 5.1-inch 1920 x 1080 pixel (432 ppi) Super AMOLED panel

But just like the design comparison, this one is much closer than it initially appears. Without doubt the iPhone 6 has the best circa-720p display I’ve ever seen. It is bright, colours are accurate, it has great viewing angles and - despite the ppi (pixels per inch) battle - it still remains hard to pick out individual pixels on a 326 ppi display.

Read more - Why Apple Made Massive New iPhones

That said you can still pick them out. Maybe not in general use or when not really paying much attention, but side-by-side with the Galaxy S5 it is clear that Samsung’s panel is sharper. It is also equally bright and matches the iPhone 6’s wide viewing angles while (in a notable change of tack from Samsung this year) producing wonderfully accurate colours, something that can be altered for those who like AMOLED’s ability to oversaturate.

For me the Galaxy S5’s higher pixel density does mean it wins this one, but extensive benchmarking from screen specialist DisplayMate saw it declare the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus to have the best IPS displays they’ve ever tested and the Galaxy S5 and Note 4 to have best AMOLED displays they’ve ever tested. So either way you are unlikely to be disappointed.

Hardware Specs And Performance - Ignore The Raw Numbers

Here is what you should be paying no attention to whatsoever:

  • iPhone 6 - Apple A8 chipset, dual-core 1.4GHz Cyclone CPU, PowerVR GX6450 GPU, 1GB RAM
  • Galaxy S5 - Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset, Quad-core 2.5 GHz Krait 400 CPU, Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB RAM

Why? Because it really doesn’t matter. If we were comparing Android with Android or iOS with iOS then the specifications start to take on significance, but when comparing platforms with fundamentally different foundations it makes no sense. Does Windows or Linux trump Mac OS X because of the gigahertz of a CPU or GPU or is it more important how well each platform runs individually?

Read more - iPhone 6 Plus Long Term Review: Beautiful Freak Is iPhone’s Future

The correct answer is the latter and here users should have little to fear with either handset. The iPhone 6 has the smoother experience. There is greater fluidity which, having seen the buttery smooth performance of the stock Android-touting Moto X, comes down more to TouchWiz than Android (more later).

That said both phones breeze through every game on their respective app stores. Furthermore neither phone should be troubled by anything to populate their respective app stores for at least two years.

Why? Because not only do they have bags of power, but from a developer’s perspective it makes no economic sense to code something so demanding that this year’s flagships (and therefore the millions of slower handsets currently beneath them) will struggle to play it. So just strap in and enjoy the speed of both handsets. They’re lightning quick.

Consequently where the more interesting hardware differences come is in their fundamentally different approach to batteries (more later) and storage.

Apple has always eschewed external storage, but this year the iPhone 6 got a storage bump to 16GB, 64GB and 128GB options. The obvious upsell from 16GB to 64GB is why the 32GB model was the one to get the chop, but even with 128GB it isn’t necessarily the capacity champ.

Read more - iPhone 6 Review: Bigger Is Better

The Galaxy S5 has just 16GB and 32GB options, but it also has microSD and this means external cards of up to 128GB can be purchased for less than the $100 increments on the iPhone range. So technically the Galaxy S5 is the storage king with up to 160GB while the iPhone 6 is simpler.

In an ideal world I’d rather have built in storage, but Samsung’s approach clearly offers better value for money with the potential to expand capacity only when needed. Where your preference lies here will be entirely personal.

Touch ID? Heart rate sensors? They come up next…

Software Features And User Experience - iOS 8 vs TouchWiz

Technically this section should be sub-headed ‘iOS vs Android’ but with Samsung’s extensive customisation of Android via its TouchWiz UI and bespoke software it feels like an experience which is primarily Samsung not Google .

To this end I prefer iOS 8. Android 5.0 Lollipop is my favourite mobile platform at the moment, but I think the changes in iOS 8 give it an edge over Android 4.4 which is running on the Galaxy S5 and - more importantly - Samsung’s customisation of it.

The most personal reason for this is I simply don’t like how TouchWiz looks. More objectively I dislike its negative impact on performance and the wasted storage from its myriad of uninstallable apps. Many of which needlessly duplicate stock Android apps.

Read more - iOS 8 vs Android 5.0 Lollipop Review: Material Difference

For example there are three email clients because Samsung thought Gmail and the generic ‘Email’ client weren’t enough. There are two app stores because Samsung wants its own where occasionally it pays for exclusives so other Android phones can’t get them for a while. There’s an additional web browser, instant messenger (now closed), calculator, calendar, voice search (S Voice instead of Google Voice search) and much more.

This all feels like a needless waste of developer time and phone space purely so Samsung can say “Look At Me!”. Yes other Android manufacturers do this, but none to the same extent.

That said there is good stuff: an IR blaster to control your TV, Samsung’s S Health which incorporates the Galaxy S5’s fast and accurate heart rate sensor (subtly positioned alongside the camera flash on the rear) and the offers and comprehensive support from ‘My Samsung’, plus freebies like extra Dropbox storage.

Read more - Best And Worst Things About Android 5.0 Lollipop

The approach of iOS 8 couldn’t be more different. Apple rules over iOS with an iron fist and you will only find core apps there, even if it could be argued that there’s an increasing number of uninstallable ‘core’ apps users are forced to put into a growing ‘Unused’ or ‘Extras’ folder.

Apple also took a step closer to Android with its decision to open up iOS more to developers. It brings greater third party app integration, notification bar widgets and support for third party keyboards. It also counters Samsung’s S Health (and the new Google Fit app) with Apple Healthkit.

But undoubtedly the star of iOS 8 remains Touch ID. Simply put it is far more sophisticated than the swipe-based fingerprint reader on the S5 and Apple’s integration of Touch ID into the Apple Pay platform is a potential game changer for mobile payments. What was initially seen by some as a gimmick is fast becoming a major differentiator between the platforms.

Read more - Apple iOS 8: The Best Apple Keyboard Replacements

Again stock Android remains my preferred choice, but I would rather have iOS 8 than Samsung’s customisation of Android 4.4. Whether that remains the case when the Galaxy S5 gets its impending upgrade to Android 5.0 Lollipop will depend on how much of Google’s impressive Material Design stylistic and functional changes are allowed to make it through.

Camera - Apple Defies Specs To Win Out

I’m sure you’ve spotted a theme by now and it continues with the camera: ignore the specs. Deep breath:

  • iPhone 6 - Rear: 8 Megapixel 1/3'' sensor, 1.5µm pixel size, Digital Image Stabilisation (DIS), dual-LED ‘True Tone’ Flash, 1080p video at 60fps, 720p at 240fps. Front camera: 1.2mp, 720p at 30fps video
  • Galaxy S5 - Rear: 16 Megapixel, 1/2.6'' sensor, 1.12 µm pixel size, Digital Image Stabilisation (DIS), LED flash, 4k video at 30fps, 1080p at 60fps, 720p at 120fps. Front camera: 2MP, 1080p at 30fps

This is a lot of numbers and on paper the Galaxy S5 again appears to hold a clear advantage, but in practice the cameras on both these phones are very closely matched and I found it was the iPhone 6 was came out fractionally ahead.

Principally its handling of detail in shadow helped it to stand out - notably you’ll see the difference in the rainbow shot where the Galaxy S5 loses tree detail. Furthermore, despite the lower megapixel count, the iPhone 6 actually retains slightly more detail at full resolution compared to the Galaxy S5 as you’ll see in both the comparative image of the plant pot and the photo of my mum’s troublesome border terrier!

Read more - Why iPhone 6 Plus Camera Beats iPhone 6

Colours in iPhone 6 photos are also a little more accurate and it is noticeably faster in low light, even if the Galaxy S5 actually holds its own with the end result (as seen in the lighter test below).

Perhaps the most interesting thing in all this, however, is the speed of progress. The Galaxy S5 had a class leading camera when it debuted in April, but the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus as well as Samsung’s own Note 4 and the massive Motorola Nexus 6 has all since surpassed it. Notably the very best - the Note 4, Nexus 6 and iPhone 6 Plus - also feature optical image stabilisation (OIS) whereas both these phones use Digital Image Stabilisation (DIS), an artificial emulation.

Read more - Nexus 6 Review Long Term: A Big, Brilliant Mistake

That said the iPhone 6 also edges the DIS battle when it comes to video. The Galaxy S5 can shoot in 4k, which the iPhone 6 can’t, but video from the iPhone 6 is noticeably more stable and the entertaining slow motion video mode in iOS 8 produces better results than the same mode in Samsung’s custom camera app.

One caveat to all this: Samsung’s camera app does offer a lot more access to settings so for those prepared to take the time to fully setup a shot the Galaxy S5 may be able significantly boost results. That said in typical usage scenarios Apple clearly has the advantage.

Battery Life - Galaxy Flourishes, iPhone Fades

If you have learnt one thing from this review it is that raw numbers don’t always paint the full picture. But we have one exception and that is battery life:

  • iPhone 6 - 1810 mAh - claimed: 250 hr standby, 14 hr talk-time, 50 hr music playback
  • Galaxy S5 - 2800 mAh - claimed: 390 hr standby, 21 hr talk-time, 67 hr music playback

iPhones have never had a great reputation for battery life and while my iPhone 6 Plus long term review proved Apple could break the mould, the iPhone 6 doesn’t.

The good news is it should get you through a day with moderate usage. As always this depends on your own personal usage patterns and third party app settings (background checks, sync settings, etc), but heavy usage (in particular even light gaming) can drain the battery very quickly and you have no chance of lasting a full day. If you own an iPhone 4/4S/5/5S don’t expect any great improvement.

By contrast the Galaxy S5 blows it away. Samsung quotes far superior numbers on paper and it delivers. The Galaxy S5 has superb battery life and even heavy usage throughout the day shouldn’t leave you reaching for a charger before bedtime.

Furthermore this is where Samsung’s party trick comes into play: the removable battery. Samsung build quality is regularly (and often correctly) lambasted, but being able to go from 0% battery life to 100% in 10 seconds by swapping out the modestly proportioned battery (something far easier than carrying around an external battery and charge cable) is a joy.

While many categories in this review are close, Samsung wins this one hands down.

Speaker - Making The Best Of Bad Designs

Apple and Samsung may be viewed very differently when it comes to smartphone design, but there is one thing they both get wrong: the positioning of their phone’s external speaker.

While HTC has led the way with its stereo, front-firing ‘BoomSound’ speakers on the One M7 and M8 it has quickly inspired others with the Moto X and, most notably, the Nexus 6 also helping raise smartphone speakers to a new level.

Neither the iPhone 6 nor the Galaxy S5 are in this class. The iPhone 6 still fits its speaker on the bottom edge - bizarre considering the space available on its big top and bottom bezels - and the Galaxy S5 is even worse: it still fits the single mono speaker on the back making it quiet and muffled whenever the phone is put down.

Read more - HTC One M8 Review

In fairness both speakers do the best they can despite their outdated positioning being reasonably loud and clear (the iPhone 6 edges this, in my opinion), but neither reaches its full potential and I hope talk of a radically upgraded Galaxy S6 will result in this being one of the changes.

The other aspect of speaker quality is during calls and here both handsets do much better. The variables in such tests - location of caller and recipient, cellular network combinations and the phones used by both parties - means it is virtually impossible to judge scientifically.

Despite this the clarity and benefits of noise cancellation in both phones mean they do each work well at the primary function we increasingly forget our smartphones provide.

Lastly a slightly unrelated aspect: headphone jack position. Apple may have its external speaker in the wrong place, but I’m a big fan of its decision to put the headphone jack on the bottom of the phone because it means a headphone cable doesn’t get in the way while using the phone and listening to music. LG also does this with the G3 and, like front-firing speakers, I hope it is a change all smartphone makers will eventually adopt.

Read more - iPhone 6 Plus vs Nexus 6 Review

Availability and Value For Money

Much has been written about the availability of the iPhone 6 (or lack thereof) but stock is coming back in now with reasonably short lead times of 1 to 3 days at the time of writing. By contrast the Galaxy S5 is readily available and having been released in April it can also be found with significant discounts both online and through carriers.

  • iPhone 6 - 16GB $649, 64GB $749, 128GB $849
  • Galaxy S5 - 16GB and 32GB circa $500 and $600 (prices may vary)

Read more - Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Long Term Review: Samsung’s Best Phone

Of course from a purely financial perspective the Galaxy S5 is the cheaper phone and in combination with a cheap micro SD card and second battery it can offer extraordinary value and flexibility.

That said some of the difference between these phones does come down to age. They may be of the same generation but Apple and Samsung release their phones at opposite ends of the year. With a Galaxy S6 (maybe two versions) due in March/April some may be prepared to wait and pay the the premium for the new model or benefit from further cuts to the S5 after the S6 is released.

Read more - iPhone 6 And iPhone 6 Plus vs iPhone 5S And iPhone 5: Should You Upgrade?

Bottom Line

Specifications suggest there should be a big gap between these phones, but they lie. In reality the Apple iPhone 6 and the Samsung Galaxy S5 are incredibly closely matched. The Galaxy S5 is the more flexible and, in some ways, more ambitious phone but the iPhone is a slicker and smoother experience.

So who edges out who? It really is too close to call and depends on your personal priorities. The Galaxy S5 has the slightly better screen and significantly better battery life while it is easier to grip in hand, offers expandable storage and removable battery and is water resistant.

The iPhone 6 has the sexier design, better camera, feels a little snappier in use and has far less bloatware (even if the non-removable Apple ‘core’ apps are beginning to stockpile). There’s also the benefit of Touch ID and the potential of Apple Pay.

From an engineering perspective I’d suggest Apple has achieved more with less, but Samsung gives you greater value for money. They really are opposites. Android is my daily driver, but Samsung’s take on it is a long way from the stock experience I enjoy and too often feels like change for the sake of change without the clear benefits of customisation Samsung has brought to the phablet form factor with its Note range.

For me this gives iOS 8 and therefore the iPhone 6 the edge and I don’t trust Samsung to be any less heavy handed with Android 5.0 Lollipop when it arrives on the Galaxy S5 in early 2015. Then again just a few months after this Samsung will launch the ‘Project Zero’ Galaxy S6 and this battle will start all over again...

Thanks to Three UK for the iPhone 6 review sample and Samsung UK the Galaxy S5 review sample

___

More on Forbes